


Welcome Home

by AliaTurin



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Aen Elle (The Witcher), Canon-Typical Violence, Elf/Human Relationship(s), F/M, Reader-Insert, Sex, Slow Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-21
Packaged: 2021-03-25 11:48:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30088638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AliaTurin/pseuds/AliaTurin
Summary: Caranthir has been in love with a human for couple years now, but he had never shared his feelings, nor spoken with her in fact. Despite being on of the smartest people he knows (if not the smartest) he decides that the best way to go about his feelings is kidnap the reader and take her to Aen Elle. What possibly could go wrong with his 'brilliant' plan?Please note there is cannon typical mentions of slavery and violence. None of that will effect the reader directly (it's pretty vanilla fic as my writing goes), but it is there as the reader will find herself on Aen Elle.
Relationships: Caranthir Ar-Feiniel/Reader
Comments: 18
Kudos: 12





	1. Aen Elle

**Author's Note:**

> I totally wrote that to satisfy my absolute crush on Carathir. Couple of important things to note -  
> There is cannon typical mention of slavery, so please be aware if that is not something you want to see.  
> I'm also assuming few things here as there isn't much cannon information on Carathir but yey for headcannons- 
> 
> His childhood sucked, he barely knows his parents and Avallac'h has more of a teacher than parent  
> He cannot really deal with emotions, no one ever showed real emotions to him, so he has no idea how to approach his emotions and rational does not work on feelings  
> He is extremely arrogant about his abilities, but he is also the best in what he can do  
> He doesn't really care about what the Wild Hunt does one way or another, he is the best and wants to be with the best  
> His relationship with Avallac'h is complicated

Carathir spent a lot of time thinking about that. That was unusual for him, very often he acted on instinct and most of the time his instinct was right. He was good with decision making, he never hesitated, he was the smartest man he knew so that made things way easier. Somewhere deep in his chest a little voice was trying to tell him that this was a mistake, but Caranthir ignored it. How could that be a mistake, he didn’t see any other way, if there was no other way, that was the right way. 

He put his helmet on and opened a portal, he didn’t need to concentrate too much to find his final destination. He has been there hundreds of times he could probably open a portal asleep and find himself there.

Caranthir stepped out of the portal, just in the outskirts of the village. It was night, the humans were asleep, he knew that as it was quite beside the sounds of nature. Humans created too much noise. He walked in the village, passing dark houses, a dog barked at him, but Caranthir ignored it. If the dog was to awaken someone he had no issue dealing with the problem. He found the house he was looking for, that was not difficult either, he had done that more times that he was going to admit to himself. He took a deep breath and opened the door, he could feel the warmth coming from inside. He walked inside, his armor making a clicking sound, he should have travelled lightly the armor wasn't really needed. As he opened the bedroom door he saw the figure in the bed moving. Caranthir moved faster, by the time she had pushed herself off the bed he was already next to her. She looked at him in terror, opened her mouth to scream but he touched her and she lost consciousness. He picked her up and opened a portal in the bedroom leading to his own room in Tir na Lia. 

“I knew I sensed a portal.” the first thing he saw when he came back was Avallac'h, standing at the door, as if he was about to scold him. The other elf would have no other reason to be here. Caranthir ignored his mentor and placed the woman on his bed, she was probably going to be out of it for some time, enough to have an argument with the older elf. 

“Congratulations on sensing the portal?” Caranthir started removing his armor, ignoring the other man as best as he could. “You are still here.” 

“Keen observation, Caranthir.” Avallac’h stepped closer to the bed and looked at her. He could see the disapproval on his teacher's face. “Doing solo hunts now? Eredin not providing you with the thrill you need?”

He could try to explain. He even could be honest in this situation, but he knew Avallac’h would never understand. Avallac’h never understood him, so there was no point in even opening his mouth. 

“What are you going to do with her?” his mentor asked after Caranthir was just keeping his answers to himself. He wasn’t a little boy anymore that the Sage could control, that time was long gone. “Following Imlerith’s example?”

“You are not my father, you are not my king, I owe you no explanation about what I do in my personal time. You gave up on me when I asked to be part of the Wild Hunt, remember?” Caranthir rarely lost his temper these days, but Avallac’h just knew how to push him. 

“Are you going to hurt the human?” his mentor asked as he was walking toward the door, he didn’t even look at Caranthir. The Navigator tilted his head curious. That was not what he had in mind, he was not doing that to hurt her. He...loved her. Of course that was another thing he couldn’t tell Avallac’h. The older elf would never understand, after all for him Caranthir was just a tool. 

“The door is right there, Avallac’h, make sure to close it behind you.” he grabbed a chair and placed it next to the bed. As soon as he heard the door closing he took a deep breath. Now was the time to see how foolish his endeavor truly was. 

You were in this weird state when you were waking up but your eyes were not open yet. Your mind was somewhat working, but the world didn’t make sense. It was like being drunk without the fun tipsy part of drunkness, just the foggy mind and lack of coordination. You had the weirdest dream, you were in your bedroom and you heard a sound, you were going to check what was going on but then a strange monster walked in the room. His body was made of bones and he held a long stick, with glowing orb at the end….in typical dream fashion you were not sure what happened afterwards. 

You forced your eyes open, at first you thought you were still dreaming, as most certainly you were not in your own bedroom. This room was larger, the bed was bigger and...softer. Your eyes continued travelling until they stopped on a figure that was sitting next to the bed. You screamed. The elf was looking at you with curious blue eyes, his face not betraying any sort of emotion. You crawled to the other end of the bed, as far away from him as possible. 

He said something in a language you didn’t understand, that did not make you feel any calmer. 

“I’m not going to hurt you.” he said in your own language with no accent. 

“Where am I?” you asked trying to be as far away from him as the bed allowed you. He didn’t move from the chair he was sitting on, didn’t even make an attempt to reach you, but if he did, you wanted to have some advantage. 

“Tir na Lia.” he answered as if that was something that was supposed to make sense to you. You had no idea where that was or what it was. “It is the capital of Aen Elle” more names that did not make any sense to you. You looked again around the room hoping to discover any hints, you assumed you were in a castle or mansion judging by the way this place was build, the man in front of you was an elf, so maybe that was some old elf fortress. Then you saw it. The pieces of armor on the ground, they resemble that monster you had seen in your dream. But if they were here, you were either still dreaming or the monster was real…  
“What are you?” you had ran out of bed, but you wished there was more space that you can use to get as far as possible from the elf and the armor on the ground. 

“That is a bit obvious, isn’t it?” he smirked and got up, slowly as if you were some sort of little animal he was trying not to scare. He was failing at that. It was obvious that he was an elf, but beside that nothing else was obvious. “My name is Caranthir Ar-Feiniel, I’m a Navigator of the Wild Hunt, this is my room.” he made a hand gesture pointing at the surrounding. 

None of that made you feel any better. You knew about the Wild Hunt, they were wraights who appeared in the sky and bad things happened after that. War, famine, people died or disappeared. 

“Why am I in your room?” you looked around for something that could be used as a weapon, but the closest thing you could see was a staff in the other end of the room. You weren’t even sure if you could lift the thing even if it was closer. 

“I brought you here. I wanted you to meet me.” he sat on the opposite end of the bed, his body language still relaxed and so calm. “I wanted you to spend some time with me.”

You opened your mouth and closed it not sure what to say. That had to be a dream, you will wake up any moment now and you will be in your own bed. You thought very had about waking up, but it did not happen, you were still in this strange room, with this strange elf. And what did he mean by ‘you spending time with him’ shouldn’t he say that he wants to spend time with you. Why he would even want to do that?

“Why would I need to spend time with you?” you hoped that was not offensive, he had been polite so far, as polite as someone who brought you to a place you did not recognize could be, but he was bigger than you and you can see the strength under his clothes. You had no doubt that if he wanted to hurt you, he would be very efficient in that. 

“I have been watching you, for very long time” His eyes were pinned on yours as if he was looking for a reaction. The only reaction he could find there was fear and confusion because those were the only things that made sense to you. “You can say I...am attracted to you. I think you are beautiful, I have seen you interact with other humans...I like you.” 

You had to take a deep breath here. He had been stalking you? Your fear grew into the highest possible level of panic. This elf who just admitted that he has been stalking you had brought you to his bedroom and was chatting with you as if that was the most normal thing in the world. 

“Can I go home?” you can feel your voice shaking. 

“No...that will require you to open a portal back to your world and as far as I can tell you are not able to travel through space.” again that completely normal reaction to something that sounded very crazy. Did you understand him correctly? You were not in your world, that was surly some sort of a strange metaphor. Maybe he just didn’t speak your language as well as it sounded, maybe he meant something else. You found it difficult to breath and despite the fact that you were sitting the world started spinning. “Are you okay?” he climbed on the bed and moved towards you, you wanted to escape but your body had just stopped responding. You were fighting to get air in your lungs and that seemed impossible. “You need to breathe.” he was just an arms length away from you, and if you could read that expression correct he was concerned. “Just take a deep breath.” 

If you could talk you would have told him that it was exactly what you were trying to do but it didn’t work like that. Your body was refusing to listen to any sort of orders you were giving it, nothing was truly working. He reached out for your head and you would have screamed and pushed his hand away if you could move. In the next moment everything turned into darkness.


	2. The Market

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caranthir is confused why kidnaping someone and then exposing them to a world where humans are slaves doesn't really aspire love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of an Eredin moment in this chapter being...well Eredin. 
> 
> Caranthir really struggling with just being normal, a lot of my own headcanons here about his upbringing and his relationship with Avallac'h.
> 
> I have also been listening to Korn Feat. Amy Lee - Freak On A Leash - that song just SCREAMS Caranthir to me at times. Poor baby not sure where his place in life is. 
> 
> Sometimes I cannot take this place.  
> Sometimes it's my life I can't taste.
> 
> I really feel that someone like him who was created with purpose will have very hard time processing everything that is not related to that purpose and especially given how Avallac'h talks about him...

Caranthir was sitting on a bench in the garden running the events of the past hour through his head trying to figure out what he did wrong. She was scared of him, that he could possibly understand, after all she had never seen him before. The panic reaction he didn’t truly understand. This meeting had developed in a very different way in his head. In his head he was planning to tell her that he had been watching her for awhile and that he really liked her and that he just wanted to spend time with her. In a sense he had said that, but in his head she had agreed, in reality it did not work like that. 

“Let me guess, the girl you brought through the portal is giving you trouble.” Eredin sat next to him on the bench. Normally Caranthir would have heard him coming but he was too deep in his thoughts. “Don’t give me that look, you think you can open a portal, bring a human in my castle and I wouldn’t know?”

Carathir didn’t really think about it because he didn’t really care about it. If he had to be completely honest he thought about some stuff and not others. Somewhere in the back of his head Avallac’h was laughing. He had free time like everyone else, Imlerith could spend his free time at orgies, Eredin...at whatever Eredin really spent his time and he wanted to spend it like that.

“You should treat humans like little animals. Think...bunny rabbits. Small, cute but also filled with fear.” Caranthir looked at the king narrowing his eyes, not sure he understood. “You need to win their trust first, feed them a carrot or two, give them something to play with, make them feel comfortable and then…” Eredin grinned like a predator. 

Caranthir was never going to admit that to anyone, but he had no idea how to interact with humans or with most elves honestly. His parents did not teach him anything either because they didn’t care about him or Avallac’h had taken him away before they could raise their son. Caranthir was reared, he was not raised, that was very important. Avallac’h taught him stuff, but nothing about life. He had shown him magic, taught him a lot about time and space, powers that few others possessed, but he was just a tool that had to be shaped and social skills were not part of this process. The first time Caranthir had really bonded with someone was when he got drunk with Imlerith years before he did the trails. That was the first time he communicated with someone that he could call a friend. Caranthir took a deep breath because what he was about to do was humiliating to him. He never asked for advice, but Eredin was not Avallac’h so that made it a bit more acceptable even if he knew Eredin would never forget that. 

“What would you do?”

“Me?” the king laughed. “I wouldn’t care if she is scared. Does it really matter? I always get what I want.” 

Caranthir could just stare knowing exactly what all that meant. Eredin has always had a certain...charm. He always got what he wanted and Caranthir even admired that. It had a lot to do with the man, his skills in battle and his personality attracted almost everyone. He had seen men who dislike Eredin become his sworn followers. Caranthir was no exception, all his life he had trained to be a Navigator, but it was his admiration for Eredin that made him take the trails. He would die for the man if he had to. At times he even felt that Eredin was as smart as he was. 

“You cannot keep her under a sleeping spell forever.” Eredin said as he got up. “Unless you are into that sort of thing.” the king smiled and walked away. 

Caranthir watched as the king walked away. He had solved problems more complicated than a human. He could travel worlds, he could move the whole Wild Hunt from place to place, he could create visions with magic, he could kill beasts the size of this castle. But this wasn’t a problem for the mind, this was a problem for the heart and he had no idea how to use his feelings. Maybe he could show her Tir na Lia, that surely would explain some things, right? 

When you woke up you hoped it all had been a dream, but you were again in the strange bedroom on the strange bed with the elf looking at you, again. This time he was not sitting next to the bed, he was in the opposite end of the room, his back leaning against the stone wall. 

“Do you feel better?” he asked without moving away from where he was, it was a good distance, it did not make you feel safe, but at least it would give you warning if he was to move in your direction. 

“I would, if I can go home…” you were sure that won’t help, but you owed it to yourself to try. 

“I cannot do that, but I can show you my home.” he smiled, it was a warm smile, but you were still too afraid to appreciate it for what it was. “That is for you.” he pointed at something on the bed and just now you saw a dress that had been left where your feet were. It just occurred to you that you were in your nightgown, all that time. “You probably would be more comfortable wearing that outside.”

You reached for the dress, it was nice fabric and it looked your size. You have never owned a piece of clothing that nice in your life. 

“Do I have a choice?” 

“You can come dressed like that.” he smiled, your question however was not about the dress. His answer however told you everything you needed to know. 

“Can you turn around?” you finally asked as your feet touched the cold stone floor. He just looked at you, a fear creeped down your spine that he would just say no. He did not turn around, but he walked out of the room. You were grateful for small mercies. Fighting him and being stubborn probably was not going to help so you decided to do as you have been asked. At the end of the day he didn not ask anything outrageous, he could have asked for worse. 

The dress fit you perfectly and you even found a pair of shoes that surprisingly fit you as well. Not sure what you were supposed to do now you just looked around the room. There was a dresser, a large bookshelf filled with books whose titles you couldn’t read, a desk with more books and scrolls, celestial maps that made as much sense to you as the book titles and a sextant. You knew what a sextant was, but you had never seen one for real. You ran your fingers through the cold metal, the tool looked fragile but when you lifted it you could feel it was in fact heavy. 

“Don’t drop it.” his voice surprised you and you dropped the sextant. You never heard the door opening or him stepping back in. 

“I’m sorry.” you looked at the sextant, it was fine, didn’t seem broken. 

The elf came closer to you and grabbed the tool, he looked through it and carefully left it on the desk. Considering he didn’t seem angry you assumed your life was not in danger over a sextant. He walked toward the door and then stopped looking back at you. 

“It would be easier if you follow me.” you did as he said. He led you out of the castle to what you assumed was the main courtyard and then into the town. 

This place was...amazing. Buildings taller than what you were used to in your small village, gardens and trees, waterfalls and fountains...and elves. There were elves everywhere, you didn’t see any other creatures but elves for a while until you reached what you assumed was a market street. Among the stalls you could see some humans, most of them poorly dressed, carrying heavy baskets with produce or fabric. You had to wonder if the humans were just working here, selling their goods, maybe they lived in a different city far away. You suddenly stopped, Caranthir stopped next to you looking at you curiously. Your eyes were pinned on a tall elf, richly dressed, in his hand he held a leash and at the end of this leash there was a human…

“Why…” you stared at the elf and the human as they passed you, neither of them paying any mind to you. “Is that normal?” you looked at Caranthir who was observing you the same way a cat would observe a sparrow on the window. “Did you kidnap me for that?”

“No!” he said quickly, that was the first time you saw his face show something else than calmness and confidence. “I guess the market was a bad idea.” he grabbed your hand in his and pulled you away. “Come let’s sit somewhere.”

He led you through the crowds and shops until he got to what you would describe as a tavern. It was midday so it did not seem very busy and he was able to find a table in the corner. A serving girl came, he told her something in their strange language, she nodded and walked away. You hoped whatever he told her involved food because you were starving even if the stress from the last few minutes was making you worry about other stuff but food. 

“What was this elf doing with the human?” that scene had not disappeared from your mind just because you changed the locale. All these other humans as well...they were servants at best, probably worse. 

“The human is a slave. Most humans here are slaves.” his tone was flat, did not betray any sort of emotion. 

“Am...I a slave?” surely you lacked the chains, but you also couldn’t leave and you were brought here against your will. 

“No…” he was going to say something but then the girl brough drinks and food. He continued only after she walked away. “In your world, the Wild Hunt is just an omen, different places are affected in a different way some think the Wild Hunt is just a myth but some have actually seen the Wild Hunt. The Wild Hunt travels different worlds and we bring creatures here.” 

You could tell he was measuring his words very carefully. That wasn’t everything was it?

“Creatures or humans?” the food in front of you smelled delicious, but you were more concerned about your present situation than the hunger building in you. 

“Both I guess.” he winced and drank from the cup that was in front of him. “We were at your village a couple of years ago. That was when I saw you. I don’t know what happened to me, I couldn’t take my eyes away from you. I knew I couldn’t take you then you were going to end like that human in the market or worse, I had to figure it out.”

“The Wild Hunt was in my town? When?” you had never seen the Wild Hunt. 

“Think of a couple of years ago a day with very bad weather, winter storm. Did you have some people going missing?” You could recall a time like that, it was exactly three years ago, it was winter, but one night the weather was so bad that everything froze. Four people were missing in the storm, bodies were never found. You nodded slowly understanding what had happened. “I watched you for years. I would just come to your village and watch you. I guess I decided I didn’t want to watch you anymore.” 

“Why didn’t you...try saying hi?”

Carathir blinked not sure what to say at that. It seemed so obvious, she probably thought he was an absolute creep. It wasn’t that he enjoyed stalking her in the shadows, he was just unable to express what he felt. He had no issues talking to women, Imlerith had made sure of that, but there was a difference between one night stand with the sole purpose of pleasure and...well that. He had to get it together, he was the smartest person he knew, probably the smartest person in at least half of the realms he had ever been to, he could manipulate time and space and he could make it snow for a week if he wanted to. All of that seemed easier right now compared to explaining to her why he did what he did. 

“I wasn’t sure how to do it.” He offered her a smile. “I didn’t want to scare you.” she looked at him in disbelief. “In my defence bringing you here did not work out the way I imagined it.” He saw her eyeing the food and the glass in front of her. “You should eat, the wine is also good.” he watched her as she tried everything carefully as if it might be poison. Eredin’s example of bunny rabbits came to his mind and he smiled. 

“How did you imagine that playing out?” she finally asked him. 

“Better?” he offered. Honestly he had been stupid. When he was five or six he and Avallac’h were in the woods, the Sage was teaching him something, Caranthir didn’t really remember what, but he had been bored as usual. He was a child and already too confident in his own talent. He had tried to conjure a portal and almost sucked half of the forest in space. There was a scary parallel between the two situations. “I thought I could show you my world.” he continued after he realized he had been silent for too long. “I was sure you would like it here and you would want to stay.” He was an idiot. The fact that he had fallen in love pretty much from first sight didn’t mean she would. Looking back at his actions he saw exactly where his mistake was. Somewhere Avallac’h was probably laughing. ‘Impulsive’ his old teacher used to call him and that was exactly what happened here. He had acted on impulse and damn the consequences. Now he was waist deep in the consequences. “Can we start from the beginning...ask me anything, ask me all day long, I will answer honestly.” 

She studied him for a moment taking a bite from the food, one thing he could say is that she was not as afraid of him as she was when that whole thing started or maybe fear had just become part of what she was. 

“You said you are a Navigator for the Wild Hunt. What does a Navigator do?” okay that was easy he thought. It was a straightforward question that needed a straightforward answer. 

“I can travel through time and space. I can open portals and bring the Wild Hunt anywhere I wish.” he gave her a smile with the corner of his lip. That was impressive, there weren’t many elves who could do that. He also knew that human mages can open portals, but not as strong and stable as his. “I can go to any realm” 

“You bring all these humans and other beings here?” The smile on his lips disappeared when she asked that, he saw the danger of this question. Why was he so stupid around her? That was a totally new feeling, him being caught off guard. 

“Not just me, but yes, that is what the Wild Hunt does.” there was terror on her face. “I know it seems strange to you but...think of your world. Elves in your world are not treated much better than humans are treated here. How about dwarves? You have never met someone who hates dwarves? Think of your village, how many elves live alongside you?” 

“We don’t chain them” she argued back. Something in him started burning, He had been itching for a good argument since the last time he and Avallac’h argued about the proper alignment of portals. 

“You don’t.” he pointed at her. “Are you sure other humans don’t? Have you not seen an elf being mistreated by a human? You are a human, I have not chained you, nor have the interest in doing so.” he was going to add ‘unless you ask me to’ but he felt it was too soon and he had to get his mind out of the gutter. “Your world is not better than this world. Elves happen to rule this one, humans happen to rule yours. I have seen worlds where dwarves rule and they kill everyone who is not a dwarf. It is just nature.” 

“But you have a choice!” he liked the fire that was burning in her eyes. 

“I do. I don’t care who chains who or why. Most elves here want a slave because they need to feel better than someone. I’m better than almostly everyone.” he couldn’t tell if the look on her face was confusion or just pure denial. “I was...trained by a man called Avallac’h. He had this great idea that he can create an elf who could manipulate time and space better than anyone had ever had. He worked a lot on that, he created his own breeding program in a sense, and I'm a result of that. The most successful result. Most portals...they cannot carry over more than a handful of elves. I can move a lot. Not a whole world, but enough. Even Avallac’h cannot do that to my knowledge. I might not be a good person, I’m not like you, I have seen you being kind and humble, that is not me and I’m not afraid to admit it, but I can do things few others can, and I’m proud of that. Avallac’h calls it arrogance, I don’t think it’s arrogance to be proud of what you are good at.” 

She looked at him in awe and that was stroking his ego more than anything. He had no idea if she truly understood what made him so different compared to everyone else. Avallac’h had tried to insert some humbleness in him, but he was also the one telling him how special he was because of his skills. 

“How about you parents?” she asked and just then he noticed she had drank her wine cup, her posture had become more relaxed. It has not been his intention to get her drunk but if that was going to stop her from freaking out every time she spoke with him, so be it. 

“I know their names.'' Caranthir admitted with a shrug. “They gave me to Avallac’h when I was very young, he was a teacher, but not a parent.”

“Friends?” she leaned forward to him, he could see something in her eyes he had not seen so far, at least not directed at him. It wasn’t pity, it was...care, maybe concern? 

“Two, a king and a mass murderer.” he laughed but she didn’t understand the joke. One had to meet Imlerith to really understand it. 

“So...you are not interested in slaves, I’m not a slave…Can I leave?” 

He wanted to say no, but he had acted on his impulses before and that did not play well. At least not in the short term. He didn’t want to let her go under any circumstances, but he really didn’t want a pet bunny rabbit either that he can keep in a cage and feed carrots. He wanted her for who she was, he wanted her to love him the same way he loved her and he knew that would not happen if he locked her up. That was a puzzle he couldn’t solve, he knew the answer he wanted to get, he wanted her to tell him that she would never leave, that she would stay here with him, but he wanted to hear that from her not to make her do it. How do you make someone you kidnapped, brought to a world they barely understand say that they want to stay in that world? He needed time, that was the solution. Time. 

“I will make you a deal. Spent three more days with me here. Once these days end, I will take you wherever you want. I can bring you back to your world, any other world or...you can stay here, wherever you want to go, I will bring you there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you SO much for reading. I'm actually almost done with the fic, there are maybe 2-3 more chapters I'm wrapping up but I know where that is going.


	3. The Succubus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caranthir doing is best to show some of his good sides and maybe explain what he is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adding some Imlerith and Avalac'h wisodn here. Certainly touching on Caranthir's relationship with Avallac'h which is...complicated.

You had agreed to the strange deal offered by Carathir. It wasn’t what you wanted, you just needed to be home and pretend all of that was just a bad dream. What sort of world was that? You also knew he could do way worse than just offer you a deal. Obviously you barely knew the man and in three days he could tell you he changed his mind and now you had to stay here forever with a collar around your neck, but at least his word gave you a hope. You had contemplated the opportunity to run away, but what was a human going to do in a world where humans were slaves? If he was really as important as he made it sound the safest place was as close as possible to him. That was unless he decided to do what he apparently usually did, sell you as a slave. 

You spent the rest of the day on the market, he showed you things you had never seen in your world. Spices and fruits that smelled and looked so strange but tasted amazing. You couldn’t, however, get rid of the feeling every time an elf looked at you. They didn’t really say anything, in fact they only spoke to Carathir, obviously you didn’t know the language but they didn’t know that. They just pretended you were not there and turned toward him as if you didn’t matter. Then again you knew you didn’t matter in this world. Same way he probably won’t matter in a big city in your world. What he had said took a moment to sink, but he was not wrong. The same way humans were treated here, elves were treated in your world. That didn’t make it right, neither was right, but made sense.

That day had been strange and if it was not for all the little unpleasant surprises might have been nice. Caranthir was...nice. Your day started with you being totally terrified by him, then even judging him for his role in enslaving humans and other beings, but you had started understanding him. You were still afraid of him and you still couldn’t understand him completely, but he had charm and surprisingly despite your fear he had not done anything that might hint he was trying to harm you. Besides kindpoing you. 

When you returned to the castle it was already dark, you had not noticed that on your way out, you were too taken by the place, but the guards saluted when he passed, he ignored them as if they were not there. You found yourself back to his room, he closed the door behind the two of you. Your heart was racing. He had been nice all day, was that the moment when he would be...not so nice. 

“You can have the room.” he finally said as the two of you were just standing in silence. 

“It’s your room…” it was mostly out of courtesy you said that. You hoped his suggestion was not just courtesy. You liked him as strange as that sounded, or at least you had accepted him, you were just not sure you liked him that way. 

“It’s a castle, I’m not too concerned where I sleep as long as it has a pillow.” you could see in his eyes that this was not the conversation he wanted to have. In fact, it wasn’t even a conversation he wanted to have most likely. His breathing and his posture had changed from the usual slow and controlled way you had witnessed through the day. If he wanted to do what he wanted to do, there was no way for you to stop him. “I will drop by in the morning with breakfast.”

You watched him as he walked out, not sure you expected that given the hesitation in his action. You looked around, this room was probably the most familiar thing so far, the only thing that made any sense to you anyway. You went to the bookshelf, it was the largest you have ever seen, but that didn’t mean anything. You were from a small village, people were more worried about their crop than books. You picked one at random and opened it, the words didn’t make any sense but as you turned the pages you saw diagrams, very similar to the celestial maps on his desk. You picked another book, more words that didn’t make sense but there were drawings of plants and roots. 

You gave up, for all you knew some of these books could be the history of the place, but that did nothing for you as you couldn’t understand the language. You climbed on the bed and covered yourself with the blankets. Maybe that was all still a dream and tomorrow you will wake up and be in your own bed. 

Caranthir waved the servant away and he was all too happy to leave him alone. Most servants were all too happy to stay as far as possible from the Wild Hunt and he didn’t blame them. He ran the day over and over through his head and he started seeing his mistakes. Kidnapping people did not improve your chance to be liked by them. Simple really, but the genius he was, he never thought about it. Showing humans that their fellows humans are servants and slaves in this world also does not make things better. 

“You are such a loser.” Imlerith said as he sat next to Caranthir the bench moving from the other man’s weight. “You brought yourself a girl and you are sitting here drinking?” he grabbed the jug and power himself as well. “What are you doing here, not good enough for you? You picked her?”

“How..” Eredin must have told him. “She is sleeping.” Imlerith gave him a very confused look. “She is tired.” 

“Ew, you are in love. That is so gross I need to take a bath after talking with you” Imlerith pulled mockingly away from him as if Caranthir was sick or something. “Pick your ass up, go there and you know what to do or I need to teach you?” 

He didn’t respond to the suggestion, just drank and the other man sighed loudly. 

“Okay I understand it now. Mommy didn’t love you, neither did daddy, Avallac’h loves Avallac’h, so he didn’t love you either, you are young, you want to experience new things. Listen to your elders, you don’t need to be loved back, it’s equally warm with and without love.” Imlerith looked at him as if he had just said something very smart, rediscovered philosophy. 

“Please stop thinking, your head will explode if you push your brain any further.” Caranthir didn’t need advice from the other elf now. Imlerith was who he was, there were just a handful of things that interested him. Number one was fighting and he was damn good at it, then came sex and drinking. If the man was not fighting he was just finding other outlets for his needs. 

“Caranthir, you think you are the smartest shit that ever walked the earth and I will admit it, you can do things that no one else can, even that midget Avallac’h. You have the social skills of a tree and the ability to understand emotions of a very small stone.” Imlerith placed a hand on his shoulders. “Fuck her so you can take it out of your system. What now you are going to tell me you have discovered some spiritual state in life where the physical doesn’t interest you anymore?”

Caranthir drank. He had not discovered anything and the physical did interest him, but he also could have that with more or less anybody and any time. He just wanted for once in his life to have another being that loved him, truly loved him, not because he was a product of centuries of clever breeding or he can open a portal and have a small army go through it. He knew he loved her and maybe it was naive on his end, but nothing he saw from her ever made him doubt that. He wasn’t so sure things worked like that for her. He drank again. 

“You won’t understand.” He was getting drunk and his response was childish, but he was past carrying what the other elf thinks of him. 

“Yeah you are right, I won’t.” Imlerith didn’t pour himself; he just grabbed the jug and drank. “You don’t strike me as married and lived ‘happily ever after’ type either. We are warriors my friend. We fight, we kill, one day we will die, most likely not of old age. I fully intend to make the best of the time between now and then and there are pleasures in life.”

“Give me that.” Carathir grabbed the jug and opened a portal behind himself. He leaned backwards and fell through the portal, his back hitting the soft grass. In the distance he would see the faint lights of the city, Imlerith was somewhere there was well, he hated when Caranthir did that. The navigator chuckled, he loved to see the other man’s annoyance right now. 

As much as Imlerith was a stupid brute, he was not wrong at least about some things he said. Caranthir could not talk to people like everybody else. It did take him a jug of wine to admit that. He did not understand others either, or at least for the most part. He understood Imlerith but that was not really difficult. He understood Eredin for most part, not all the time, but he had figured out what drove Eredin. Part of the problem was that Caranthir did not understand himself. Nobody ever asked him what he wanted until he passed the trails. He had done a lot of stupid things in trying to discover what he trully wanted and he discovered that she was the one thing he wanted and needed to find a piece of himself that he didn’t even knew existed. The Wild Hunt and all that was his destiny, what he was made for, he picked this path for himself, but he didn’t really. If he wasn’t Avallac’h’s Golden Child, he would be a nobody just like everyone else. 

He also wasn’t sure how feelings worked. He understood friendship although he had learned that only after he met Imlerith and Eredin. He knew hate, he was about ten when he truly understood how it felt to hate someone. He was pretty sure he understood love or at the very least strong attraction but he had never felt loved toward himself. He had no idea what could make someone love him and he had only three days to figure that out. 

You woke up from a knock on the door, as you opened your eyes you saw the door opening as well and Caranthir walked in with a tray. You couldn’t see from there was what on it but you can certainly smell it. He approached your bed or more like his bed and placed the tray down. 

“Breakfast.” Caranthir announced as if you had not figured it out by now. Breakfast looked...amazing. Croissants and some other baked stuff whose names you did not know but looked as delicious, fruit, two jugs, two cups...if his plan was to win you with breakfast in bed he was certainly on the right track. 

“Did you make that?” you pulled yourself to sit, you were still wearing the dress from yesterday which made you feel a bit silly, but you also didn’t really have anything else. 

“No.” he laughed, it was a cheerful laugh. “You don’t want to eat anything I have cooked. My teacher once said I was lucky I have talents that prevent me from relying on common means of survival otherwise I would die.”

“That is not a very nice thing to tell someone.” you said as you reached for one of the pastries. 

“He is not a very nice person.” He watched you a bite from the pastry you moaned as you tasted it, still warm, not hot, but perfect, the dough melted in your mouth with all these other flavors you could barely name but knew you liked. 

“You want some?” you pointed at the tray as he was keeping his distance from it, sitting on the far side of the bed. 

“No, I drank too much last night, I’m not sure food will agree with me.” he gave you another faint smile. 

“You should have invited me.” you joked as you took another bite. 

“I wasn’t drinking in polite company. But happy to drink with you tonight.” he got up and stretched, walked to the window and stood there for a moment. You still didn’t fully trust him, but you also had to admit that for the past day he had been nothing but a gentleman. It was all still so strange for you, wasn’t there a name of the feeling when you somehow become attracted and start sympathizing with your captor?

“So...where to today?” you asked after you realized you had eaten more than you should, but it was so delicious. 

“You saw the city, I was hoping I can show you something else.” He turned around towards you. “But you also need new clothes.”

Few minutes later you were dressed in travelling clothes that a human servant brought you. It was a strange feeling being catered like that especially knowing these people did not come here by their own free will and unlike you they were not given the royal treatment. Caranthir had opened a portal and let you through it, that was a new and strange feeling. One moment you were in his bedroom, the next you were somewhere else. 

That somewhere else was outside of the city, as you can still see the roofs in the distance. Everything around you was so green - grass, trees...it looked like a picture, not real life. You weren’t sure if your world had a place like that and if it did, you had never seen it. You looked around, behind the two of you there was a house, it wasn’t as big as those you had seen in the city, but had a wooden fence and it was built from solid stone. Most houses where you came from were built out of wood. 

“It’s beautiful.” you said as you were still trying to fully process the picture in front of you. 

“This is my parent’s house. Or so I have been told.” Caranthir grabbed your hand and that surprised you, but you did not move away. He opened the little gate that was leading to the front yard and walked you inside the house. Everything inside was...clean that was the best way you could describe it. There was furniture and decorations but it did not look as if someone lived here. Things were just perfectly placed and obviously never moved. You just couldn’t imagine someone would have moved them and things would still look like that. 

“You parents still live here?” you asked as you followed him in the hallways. 

“No. They left when they left me. Or so I have been told.” he led you up the stairs. “Lived here most of my life, trained more like.” he opened a door, it was a study, but it was...different. The house itself was pretty inside and outside. That study was dull. The walls were covered with bookshelves, but they were made of simple wood, no decoration on them, lines and lines of books, their spines had lost their colors from sun and dust. There was a desk, but that was the most impressive thing you could say about it. It was...simple and old. “This is where I spent my childhood or some of it.” he stepped in and allowed you to follow him. 

“You studied here?” you were not sure you understood what he meant. 

“No...I lived here in this room.” he ran his hand through some of the books, this was the only place in the house that was covered in dust. “I hated the rest of the house. I hated this place as well, but the rest ofthe house was so...empty. So many rooms and no one to live in them. It reminded me of the fact that I had no one. I could have lived in the whole house if I wanted, I never wanted.” 

You looked again as if trying to find some secret. Maybe a magical door like the portal he had opened that will show you a beautiful world like it was outside. 

“Why are you showing me that?” you finally asked as you couldn’t figure out what the trick was. 

“To understand.” he stepped closer to you, too close perhaps, but this time you did not step away, for first time you felt that there the fear you felt around him was gone and it was moved by something else. “I needed to show you that I’m not very good with people which is why I took you from your world instead of...maybe do something more socially acceptable.” 

“You seem pretty good at talking and breakfast in bed.” you said as you were trying to hide a laugh. 

“I have the tendency to act on instinct, sometimes it pays well.” he reached with a finger for your face and placed it just under your chin making you look him in the eyes, he was taller than you so your head tilted backwards. His eyes were such pale blue, almost like ice over the sea, you felt yourself lost there. Next thing you felt was his lips pressing against yours. You were surprised by his action yes, but you were even more surprised by how you reacted. You didn’t push him, you didn’t even try to escape, you...liked it. Why wouldn’t you? Despite the weirdness of everything he was handsome and he has been nothing but kind. When he had told you about the Wild Hunt and when you realized he had taken you through the worst of him, you were scared but none of your fears came to be true. 

He didn’t push the kiss further, and you were grateful as you were confused by everything right now. He stepped away from you allowing you space to breathe. 

“Not running away?” he asked with a smirk on his face.

“I cannot teleport like you do.” your head was still tilted up looking in these eyes. You were lost. 

“Do you want to?” he was serious now, no joke, no smirk anymore. 

Did you? You missed home for sure, you still didn’t know how you felt about this place, but...he was breaking down to pieces for you. Somehow you doubted he brought just anyone here and told them the stuff he has been telling you today and yesterday. He might have started the wrong way but you could approocated the fact that he was trying to fix it. 

“I have no say for two more days.” you smiled back at him and you are pleased to see the way his lips curved at your words. 

Caranthir brought her in the garden, he did his best to avoid servants so he had to bring two glasses and wine. He had promised her drinking and that was going to happen. She also seemed like more pleasant company than Imlerith. They had spent the day around his old house, he took her to almost every place that he had trained. It was bitter sweet for him, he didn’t have many fond memories of these years, but somehow sharing them with her and seeing her trying to understand him made him feel better about his past. 

“How did you become a Navigator?” she asked after she tried the wine. 

“I had to pass some trails. Not too difficult.” he could see her cheeks turning red, they spent the day walking around a lot so she must be tired and the wine was probably going straight to her head. It wasn’t his plan to get her drunk, but if that was going to help her relax around him, why not?

“Is there anything you are not good at?” he loved seeing her smile, he could just stay here all night and watch the way her whole face changed as she smiled. 

“Not really.” He was terrible at talking to people but he was not going to ruin his image. “It’s the purpose of my existence to be perfect.” 

“Caranthir!” he heard Imlerith shout. 

The next few moments happened fast and very slow simultaneously, you thought Caranthir might have cast a spell but he looked as surprised as you were. A tall very broad elf rushed in the garden, he was holding a sword and had only his pants on, not even boots. That, however, was not what made you scream. Suddenly someone grabbed you and you could feel cold metal against your throat. 

“Step away or I will cut her throat.” it was a female voice speaking behind you, you didn’t need to guess that she was after your throat. You looked at Caranthir in panic, he seemed calm, but his eyes were burning in a way you had not seen...well since you met him two days ago. 

“You stupid bitch I will cut you in two.” The bigger elf had reached them, he was breathing heavy and holding his ridiculously large weapon ready to kill.

“Can you do that before I kill the human?” the woman behind you asked. 

“I don’t care about the human you succubus bitch. Kill her then I kill you.” you looked at Caranthir in panic not really sure what was going on, but you were sure that the man did not care about what happened to you or...the succubus. 

“You don’t.” the woman said. “He does.” she moved the knife for a second and pointed at Caranthir. “I know he is your magician, I know he can open a portal to wherever and he will open a portal, I will step in it with this pretty little thing and I will not hear from you ever again.”

“How much do you care if she lives?” Caranthir looked at the other man. 

“She was fun, I have had better.” the man shrugged and you could feel the succubus tightening her grip, you were scared to breathe in case our throat moved your skin too close to the knife. 

“If you let her go, I promise you a very painless death.” Caranthir spoke at the succubus and you could feel yourself panicking even more. You had a knife at your throat and he was threatening her? 

“Open a portal and no one needs to die.” she pulled you even closer to herself as if to make sure no one can harm her in any way. 

Caranthir didn’t answer, he just smiled. It was a scary smile, combined with the bloodlust in his eyes you were in fact more scared of him than you were of the succubus. He walked towards you and you could feel yourself freaking out, did he lose his mind, you were about to die. 

But succubus was not moving, you couldn’t even feel her breathing behind you. Did he somehow kill her? Caranthing grabbed your hand and pulled you in his arms keeping you as close as possible, only now you saw the woman, naked and standings still as a statue, did he use a spell on her? He made a gesture with the hand that was not holding you and thick ice wrapped her legs up to her knees. 

“You bastard!” The succubus was apparently able to talk again but her legs were just a block of ice, she lost balance and fell. 

“Out of respect for your trouble, I will allow you the pleasure of smashing her head.” the other elf offered his weapon to Caranthir. This man was..terrifying. He was probably twice Caranthir’s size, his face was tattooed and he was all muscle. Giant mountain of muscle. 

“No...she wanted a portal. I will give her a portal.” Caranthir stepped away from you and opened a portal right behind the succubus, she started screaming as he grabbed her by the hair and dragged her in the portal. You looked confused at the other elf, he just smiled as if that was absolutely normal. Just few seconds later Caranthir stepped back in from the portal, holding one of the succubus’ horns in his hand. You could see burn marks at the end. 

“That is a lot of effort to kill someone.” the large elf said as Caranthis tossed the horn at him. 

“I’m very dedicated and creative.” Caranthir grabbed your hand and started walking toward the castle, you followed not really sure what had just happened. 

“Did you kill her?” you asked, he didn’t answer, he was walking fast, so fast that you were almost running after him. 

He got to his bedroom and closed the door behind the two of you, still holding your hand. 

“Would you hate me if I tell you I did kill her?” he looked...uncertain. That was also new. 

“I think I don’t want to be lied to.” he had told you exactly what he was almost the moment you met him, but somehow he also managed to make you forget about it. 

“I did kill her.” he said and his shoulders sank a bit as if a massive burden had been moved away. “She threatened your life, I couldn’t ignore that.”

“How did you…” you weren’t sure you wanted to know that, but somehow you felt responsible even if he was right she had tried to kill you and from what you knew, it wasn’t really your fault or his. 

“I don’t think you want to know that.” he tried to force a smile on his lips but there was too much concern on his face for that to look reassuring. “Do you hate me?” you shook your head for no. “Are you scared of me?” he made a step closer to you, grabbing your hand in his and pulling you closer. 

“A bit…” you could feel his fingers tighten around yours, it wasn’t painful, but you could certainly feel the strength in his grip.

“You shouldn’t be. I don’t think I’m capable of hurting you.” there was something you had discovered when he talked. There have been times when he had been an open book, about his past for example, he had talked and he had shared without even showing any sort of hesitation. But there were also times, like now, when you felt he was selecting his words very carefully and what he didn’t say was more telling than he actually said. For example the way he said ‘you’. He wasn’t capable of hurting ‘you’ but he was more than capable of hurting everybody else. “I think I should go.” he paused for a second. “Unless you want me to stay?”

That...was a complicated question wasn’t it? Did you want him to stay...part of you did, physically you were certainly attracted to him and through the day the weird stranger who brought you here became less of a stranger and more of a man with his own personality and pain. There were however things you still did not understand and you were still in a sense his prisoner. Add to that the events of moments ago.

“Have a good night.” he leaned forward and kissed your forehead. 

Caranthir was sitting on the railing of the main balcony. The city below was silent, almost dark, just a few lights could be seen here and there. 

“Sulking is not like you.” he had heard Avallac’h approaching but he had decided to pretend he doesn't see or hear the other man.

“I’m not sulking.” he really wasn't; he just needed some time for himself and his thoughts. “When have you seen me sulk?”

“That one time you were twelve and I told you that you cannot come with me to Tir na Lia.” Avallac’h offered helpfully, Caranthir just stared at him. “Love life not going well? I heard about Imlerith’s succubus.” 

“It’s not Imlerith’s succubus anymore...it is not anymore to be more persize.” Caranthir chuckled at that. “If you are about to give me some fatherly advice, don’t. You are not my father and I’m not taking advice from the man who was left for a human.”

“Maybe I have an insight into how you are not left for a human.” Avallac’h suggested, Caranthir snored. “Locking and chaining someone you love has the opposite effect of what you want to achieve. I could have told you that if you cared to listen to me. Let me guess, you have been showing her pieces of you, the pretty pieces, maybe some sad pieces. Did you show her the really ugly part? Did you tell her you begged Eredin to be his navigator? You volunteered for the Wild Hunt, that same Wild Hunt that enslaves humans. Or did you tell her you actually felt good killing that succubus? Did you tell her the person you admire the most is Eredin for the cruel bastard he is?” 

Caranthir stared at his teacher, part of him wanted to throw Avallac’h over the railing. Tha man would probably survive, but he just wanted to feel the pleasure of seeing him scream on his way down.

“Really Avallac’h?” Caranthir laughed. “I’m a bad guy? Who raised me Avallac’h? Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? Wait of course you have. You still have portraits of yourself everywhere? Lara didn’t love you so you decided to love yourself?” Caranthir looked back toward the sleeping city. “Go away Sage, I never needed you, I don’t need you now.”

“Despite what you think Caranthir, I truly wish you all the best.”

You didn’t really sleep that night running events from the last two days through your head. Too many thoughts and too many emotions and just...new. Everything was new. Surprisingly the fact that you were trapped here did not bother you so much anymore, unknown why, but you trusted Caranthir that after your deal ended he would let you go. Of course you had to make your choice if you really wanted to go. Your world meant everything to you even if you never thought about it until now. You had friends, you had family, you had work...here...you didn’t even know what you would be here. Your race was not liked and the only person you really had any bond with was Caranthir and he was...confusing at best. Could you love him? Possibly, very likely. Could that happen in three days? Most likely not…

You drifted and woke up again, multiple times until the sun had finally risen. There was no breakfast this morning, Caranthir didn’t even knock on the door, just walked in as you had just gotten dressed. 

“So where to?” you asked cheerfully but the buzz from your voice disappeared as you saw his face. He was serious, even...sad. 

“You are going home.” His voice was flat, completely lacking emotion. He might as well have said the grass is green. He made a gesture with his hand and a portal opened. “This will take you straight in your house.”


	4. On a Cold Winter Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything is coming to an end. Caranthir will need some help from an old 'friend' to to so some soul searching while our reader needs to deal with her own feelings. Chapter is NSFW at the end.

You opened your mouth to say something but you weren’t sure what...where did that come from? What even happened? It was in this very moment you felt...disappointment. Despite everything you had hoped to spend two more days with him in this strange place. 

“Why…” you stepped toward him, your eyes switching between him and the portal. You wanted to go through it sure, but you wanted him as well. Yes. You wanted him. 

“I’m a liar and a cheat. I ask you for three days to get to know me better. I showed you part of me, the part I wanted you to see, that was unfair. I’m not that person.” he made a step backwards increasing the distance between the two of you. 

“Then show me the rest.” you stepped toward him again, he didn’t move but his body was tense, he was obviously trying to keep you away. 

“No. The rest is ugly. You will hate me. I’d rather know you exist somewhere but you don’t hate me than the other way around.” he reached forward just now you noticed he was holding a sextant in his hand. “I want you to have that.”

“You still owe me two days.” you said stubbornly. 

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his hand still holding the sextant. For a second you thought he had changed his mind but he just shook his head. 

“I don’t need two days to show you the rest.” he waved his free hand and opened another portal then he stepped through it and you followed. 

It was...a desert. Not sand dunes and blue sky type of desert. Dirt and fallen trees, destroyed homes and ruins. 

“Found this world a few years ago. It’s relatively small, not very populated. Nobody lives here now, everybody who is left is a slave of the Aen Elle.” 

Before you can say or ask anything he opened another portal and stepped through it, you followed not wanting to stay in that desert even a moment longer. Next you found yourself in a market, very similar to the one you saw the first day but there were no stalls, just cages, inside humans and other races you had just read about. 

“That is the slave market of Tir na Lia. Every single living thing that has been here or is here thanks to me.” he didn’t give you a chance to ask or even look around yourself he opened another portal and you followed him there. This time the image was different, you were in the middle of a human village, there was a ship in the sky, and a ghostly army was roaming the village. There was ice and snow everywhere, you looked next to you and you could see...Caranthir or someone who was wearing his armor. That was strange because he was…”This is the past.” he explained, that is me on a Hunt. It’s okay, nobody can see us.”

You watched as Caranthir from the past walked in the village, a man charged toward him with a pitchfork, the elf slammed him against the nearby wall breaking the human’s skull. It was a battle all around you. A battle where one side was just butchering the other. 

“I would like to say I regret killing an unarmed man. I don’t.” he opened another portal, you were in a castle or something similar, it was not the Tir na Lia caste.

“Bitch tried to fight us.” he pointed at a massive ice cube, inside it was a woman, her face twisted in terror. “She was a sorceress, didn't even give me a good run.”

He opened another portal, you didn’t want to know what else he was going to show you. Fortunately, he just sent you both back in the castle.

“This is what I am today.” he passed you the sextant and didn’t say anything else. 

You didn’t protest or even try to argue with him anymore. You did as you were told and did not look back. 

As soon as she stepped through the portal Caranthir closed it before he got any other smart ideas in life. 

“Why the fuck did I do that?” he sat on his bed not really sure what had just happened even if he technically was behind everything that had happened. 

Caranthir opened a portal right under himself and teleported to his old study room. He didn’t want to spend time with anyone or anything, he was going to stay here until time just ended. 

He was heartbroken and the worst part was he broke his own heart. He had no one to blame for that. She was...too good for him. She was kind, she was...pure. That was the word he could use. Untainted, unlike him. He was corrupt, he was evil, ‘traitor’ Avallac’h had called him once, but he didn’t feel guilty about any of these things either. 

He stared at the bookcase and used magic to fling books to the ground. One by one he was tossing them to the ground without moving from the floor, clouds of dust filling the room. 

“I thought you were a ghost.” he slowly turned and saw Avallac’h at the door, staff in hand with bright light on top of it. 

“Why are you here?” Caranthir stared at him. If Avallac’h wanted a fight now that was the wrong time. Or maybe it was the right depending on how alive Avallac’h wanted to be at the end. 

“Need some peace and quiet to think.” the Sage walked around and sat on the desk. 

“This is my house, you are not welcomed here.” Caranther focused on the books again.

“Technically it is your parent’s house, they are still alive, so they own the place.” 

“I let her go.” Carathir finally admitted. He might hate Avallac’h but the man was the closest he had to a father. “I don’t feel any better about that.”

“Let me get that straight. You kidnap a girl that you are in love with. You decided that you will win her over with your charms literary as soon as she sees you and then since that didn’t work out you gave up and now you are miserable?” Avallac’h snored, Caranthir stared at him, he didn’t need to be made fun of. 

“No...well yes to the first part but then someone told me that keeping living things in cages doesn’t work as I think it does. And then I thought really hard.” That was a bit of a lie, he had a thought and acted on it. “And the more I thought the more I realized my mistake, I realized that if she somehow agrees to stay here this is not her world, I don’t care if she is a human, but everyone else will treat her like a human. Even if she is free to go wherever they all will think her a slave. Then she will spend time with me...which is nice and all but you know how I am, Eredin and Wild Hunt are my life and I’m unwilling to change that, I’m loyal to him and I do foresee a conflict of interest there.”

“You mean she might not like the fact that you kill and enslave humans?” Avallac’h interrupted him. 

“Yeah I mean that.” Caranthir gave him a grin that was more of a snarl. “So eventually she will end up hating me. Assuming we get that far, she might start hating me in two days anyway so it all ends with her being miserable and me being heart broken. That made it easier for all of us.”

“And...you shared all of that with her?” the Sage hopped off the desk and walked toward him. 

“I don’t need to share it, I know it.” he had thought about it, for about ten minutes. 

“Clairvoyant now are we? Even after so many years you still have abilities I was not aware of .” Avallac’h teased. “You have no understanding of people, Caranthir.”

“And whose fault is that?” Caranthir lost his temper and shouted at Avallac’h, the whole bookshelf started shaking and fell down creating a dust cloud. 

Avallac’h was silent, they were both silent. Last time they had a serious conversation was before Caranthir took the trails and things have been complicated after that. They had been complicated prior but he was too young and he didn’t know better than the Sage. That was always his problem, he knew Avallac’h was right, sometimes. 

“I will admit, I could have done things better.” The Sage spoke slowly as if expecting another bookshelf to fling at him. “You want me to be your father, here is fatherly advice for you - don’t make decisions for other people, let them make their own choice.”

“Speaking from experience? You asked Lara to choose between you and a human and she picked a human. Did you feel good when you provided her with a choice? Does it keep you warm at night knowing you were not good enough?” Once upon a time when he was a little boy he would have done anything to have Avallac’h act like his father. He wanted to believe that Avallac'h was his father and he loved him and cared for him. But he wasn’t Avallac’h son and the older he was getting the more bitter he was becoming toward the Sage. 

“I tried.” Avallac’h walked toward the door but stopped before getting out of the room. “You can blame me for many things, but at some point you picked your own path. That is all on you my boy.”

The Sage walked out before Caranthir smacked him with a book. He hated when he called him ‘my boy’. 

You just stood in your own bedroom feeling...weird. It wasn’t a dream, you knew it was not because you were holding the sextant. You had begged to come back to your house just two days ago and now that you were here it felt stranger than the elves’ world. You couldn’t understand why he did whatever he did, maybe he did not truly feel the way he did and he just got bored. He had said that he had lied to you and what he showed you shocked you, but he did not even give you a chance to process it. How was that even fair? You tossed the sextant on your bed in anger and dashed out of your room. 

The following days were...difficult. You were going through your day by habit. People had asked where you had been these days you had just responded out of town and continued with your day. You ate, you slept, you worked and that was it. You daydreamt about the world of elves. You went through a list of emotions all the time. There was the pain, the confusion and the regret. But there was also anger at Caranthir, anger for what he had shown you even hate. Moments later that was replaced by the pain from missing him, needing him. There wasn’t middle ground? He made you feel emotions to a level you had never felt them before. Fear was the first one for sure, you had never been as afraid in your life as you had been when you woke up in his bedroom. However, there was also warmth that came from him, the way he smiled and took care of you...it was all pointless now wasn’t it? He made his choice and with that yours as well. 

You barely talked to people, how can you explain to them what you had experienced. Seeing a new world, meeting someone who was completely...different. What on earth was he even thinking? You could just hop through a portal and life continued as it did? As if it never happened? Were you supposed to forget? At least he could have used one of his clever spells and made you forget. 

You were in bed holding the sextant. For days you had not moved it from where you had thrown it, you slept on that bad and you had left the tool there. Somehow it felt like sacrilege doing so. The metal was cold to your touch but that was the only thing left, the only thing convincing you that it was not just a dream. 

“I hate you.” you said in anger even if you knew that was a lie. “You should have allowed me to talk…” You had a lot of time to think and you had done so, nothing better to do. You were scared of what he was and what he could do. He wasn’t just that however. He was also the man who brought you breakfast in bed and showed you think from his past you suspected no one else had seen. He wasn’t one or the other, he was both, the good and the bad, the kind and the cruel, that made him who he was and you wanted more of him. “I wish you were here.”

“Me too.” you jumped from the bed when the portal appeared and Caranthir stepped through it. Your first reaction was surprised but then you just rushed toward him. You wrapped your arms around him and kissed him, not the way he had kissed you, there was nothing soft and slow about it, you just wanted to taste him. 

Caranthir was stiff just for a second as if he did not expect that, but then he wrapped his arms around you, sinking deeper in your kiss and pushing you slowly on the bed behind the two of you. His kiss became hungrier and moved to your neck, collar, his hands running down your body. 

“Caranthir, stop.” it took a lot of effort to say that as you were enjoying his touch, wanted to feel and see more of him. He looked at you confused as if he had done something bad or somehow wrong. “Why are you here?”

“You want me to go?” he pushed himself up, his arms still framing your body. 

“No!” you ran your hand through his face. “I just...don’t understand. You wanted me to go and now you are here? Why? If you stay tonight and then just disappear...I won’t be able to take it.” You were serious, as dramatic and needy as that sounded, you cannot have him like that and then not hear from him ever again. 

“It was a mistake.” when he said that your heart sank. He was regretting coming here. “I shouldn’t have taken you away from here. I should have been smarter. I also should have told you what I really am. All of it. I also should have allowed you to make your own mind about me and make your choice.” he stopped for a second a bit his own lip. “Fear...doesn’t come easy to me. I have never been truly afraid. I’m not brave, but I don’t care if I die or not, physical pain doesn’t scare me, I have had enough of that in my life. Someone put a thought in my head...that I have not shown you all of me and what I have not shown you is terrible and it will scare you and make you hate me. I felt fear. The fear of losing you. Worse the fear of seeing you truly hating me. I decided to stop it before I saw you hating me. Truly hating me.” he added as if knowing that moment ago when you said you hate him it was just emotions speaking not true feelings. 

“I don’t hate you. I don’t think I can.” as you said that he turned his head and his lips were now where your hand was touching his cheek. He kissed your fingers gently, his eyes fixed on yours. “I don’t understand everything you showed me or...you, but I know I feel the opposite of hate.” 

“Do you want me to stay tonight?” he smirked, you knew exactly what he meant by staying tonight, he didn’t plan to exchange childhood stories. You nodded with certainty. 

Caranthir leaned towards you again, kissing your neck again, you could feel the softness of his lips being alternated with the sharpness of his throat, not hard enough to break the skin, but it was there. He went down to your shoulder, pulling away the night gown from your body, sliding it down as his lips continued their quest down your arm and then moved to your breasts. You pushed yourself even closer to him, as if that was even possible, you wanted to feel him, not his clothes. You reached for the hem of his shirt and tried to pull it over his head but he grabbed your hand and stopped you. 

“Are you getting shy now, I’m almost naked under you?” you asked teasingly and he smiled. 

“Let’s get you fully naked then.” his lips moved under your breasts and started kissing a path on your belly, his hands getting the rest of your gown down your hips and from there you just kicked it away. Caranthir continued kissing down your leg, his teeth sinking your inner thigh. You moaned wanting him to go faster, but he was taking his time. He slowly pushed two fingers in you and your whole body arched under him. He started fucking you so slowly his eyes now pinned you watching as you were just falling part under his touch wanting more. 

“Caranthir, please…” you weren’t even sure what you were asking for, just something that was not teasing. 

He ignored you and continued his slow moves but his lips moved to your clit, his tongue going over almost as slow. You moaned and moved under him, trying to make him give you more but he was determined. You had no idea how long his teasing continued, could have been just a moment, could have been minutes, but you were absolutely lost in his touch when he finally started moving his fingers faster, hitting all the right places in you. Your moans became louder, you could feel yourself being pushed almost over the edge when he...stopped. You looked at him confused, he just pushed himself up, sitting on your legs and looking at you. 

“I should bring you in Tir na Lia like that and keep you in bed.” he leaned forward and whispered in your ear. “You are a mess.”   
“Unsatisfied mess.” you groaned in response, you needed him to do something, at that point even him just running his hand between your legs would do it. 

He pushed himself up, still sitting on top of you, but this time he grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head. You watched him as he did that and could do nothing but stare. He was...perfect. Carathit just stood there, his chest raising with heavy breaths, he didn’t move but you could see he was measuring your reaction. 

You reached for his pants and started unbotting them, only then he came back to his sense and helped you, kicking everything down his legs. You wrapped your legs around him pushing him closer to you and he was more than happy to obliged. There was no more teasing, no more games. He pushed his length in you making you more and tighten around him. 

“Fuck.” he groaned as he started moving in you, his lips at your neck, his teeth sinking in the skin there. His previous teasing and gentle touches were gone, now he was pure lust, going harder and faster as you continued to fall apart under him. 

“Caranthir…” your moan came as a loud scream as he moved his hand between your legs and pushed you to your orgasm. He came short after you, his lips still on your neck, his chest pressing hard against you as you were both trying to catch your breath. 

When he came to his senses, he rolled to the other side of the bed pulling you closer to himself. You ran a finger through a scar on his chest, just absentmindedly trailing the line.

“How did you get that?” you asked as he grabbed your hand and moved it away from there. 

“The Navigator trails.” he said as if that was supposed to make sense to you. “This one is magic.” he pointed at another scar below it that looked like fire burn. “This one is ice.” he pointed at the other side of his ribcage. Ice burns, as I learned.” His body was covered by different shapes and sizes of scars. 

“So what now?” you could sense that he didn’t want to talk about that so you just moved along. 

“Now you give me ten minutes and we go for round two.” he kissed your head after he said that. 

“I don’t mean that. I mean after, after that. You go home and disappear?” 

He was quiet for a very long time and your heart just sank. It wasn’t longing or love after all that had brought to all these events, it was just lust and that he had what he wanted. 

“You can come with me.” he finally said. “But you will be a human in the Aen Elle world.”

“You can stay here.” you suggested knowing how naive that sounded. 

“I cannot.” you had no idea what you expected him to say but that hurt a bit. “I can come almost at any time and I put a spell on the sextant. If you want me to come or you want to come to the Aen Elle world, you just need to say so.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading, your kind words and comments have meant the WORLD to me especially since I have not written almost anything in about 2 years. Ya'll have been the real MVP.


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